Clarksville and Montgomery County Driveway Permit Guide

First Question: Who Owns the Road?

Where a driveway meets the road, it usually crosses public right-of-way, and the agency that owns the road controls that ground. Around Clarksville that is one of three owners:

• The City of Clarksville, for streets inside city limits, through its Street Department^[1].
• Montgomery County, for county-maintained roads outside the city, through the County Highway Department^[2].
• The State of Tennessee, for state routes, through the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT)^[3].

When more than one applies

A lot can sit inside city limits and still front a state highway. TDOT's driveway manual says that where several jurisdictions' rules cover the same entrance, the more restrictive regulations apply^[3]. If you are not sure who maintains your road, ask before any design work starts, because the answer decides which of the sections below is yours.

Inside Clarksville City Limits

The city's published driveway rules come from its Access Management Ordinance, Ordinance 107-2005-06, which took effect December 12, 2006. It may have been amended since, and the Street Department has the final word on how it is applied today. With that caveat, here is what the ordinance text says.

The access permit comes first

Nobody may cut a curb or pave, cut or otherwise alter the right-of-way until the Street Department has approved an access plan and issued an access permit. That access permit has to be in hand before a building permit is issued^[1]. On a new home, that makes the driveway connection one of the first approvals, not one of the last.

Review time and paperwork

The ordinance gives the Street Department no more than 10 working days to review an access plan. Each parcel needs its own access permit, and when a house is going up, the access details can be drawn on the plot plan submitted with the building permit application^[4].

For a single-family home the access plan is not automatic. The ordinance says one may be required, and that it may need to show how far the new drive sits from the nearest drive on the neighboring lots, sight distance calculations, drainage structures, utility pole locations and any existing or proposed easements^[5].

Where a driveway can go

• One drive for a narrow lot. A lot with 50 feet of frontage or less on a local road gets no more than one driveway onto that road^[6].
• Distance from the corner. A new driveway can't be closer than 50 feet to an intersecting public road on local and collector roads, or 125 feet on an arterial^[6].
• Lot lines. A residential driveway may not extend past a straight-line projection of a side or rear lot line unless the Street Department and the neighbor both approve it in writing, and commercial, office and industrial drives must stay at least 10 feet from the property line^[7].

If a rule doesn't fit your lot

The ordinance sends appeals to its own Board of Appeals as a variance request. That board has five members and an alternate, two of whom are Tennessee-registered civil or traffic engineers^[8].

On a Montgomery County Road

Outside the city, digging, altering or building anything in a county road's right-of-way requires permission from the Montgomery County Highway Department. The department looks at the site and decides whether a culvert is needed and what size. A driveway that needs a culvert carries a bond deposit, and one that doesn't pays a $250 frontage fee^[2].

How the county process runs

• The process starts with a call to the County Highway Department, which sends its Traffic Control Foreman out to judge whether the spot is suitable for access and what culvert it needs^[9].
• Once the findings are back, the permit application is made at the County Highway Department's office on Crossland Avenue^[9].
• The driveway has to be completely finished before the county will reinspect it. If the reinspection is satisfactory, the culvert bond deposit is returned^[9].

Codes outside the city

Montgomery County began enforcing the 2018 International Building and Residential Codes in unincorporated areas on January 1, 2021^[10]. Inside the city, Clarksville has adopted the 2018 International Residential Code for one- and two-family homes^[11].

On a State Highway

Building a new driveway on state highway right-of-way, or modifying or changing the use of an existing one, requires a TDOT highway entrance permit. Homeowners start with the local TDOT District Office^[3].

TDOT's standard drawing for concrete driveways on state projects gives a sense of what the state expects on its own right-of-way:

• A 6-inch uniform slab unless the plans call for something else, over at least 4 inches of mineral aggregate base^[12].
• Typical widths of 12 feet for a residential drive, 14 feet for two-way, and 24 feet for commercial, with 40 feet as the commercial maximum^[13].
• An apron grade of no more than 15% on residential drives, with 10% recommended, and no more than 8% on commercial drives, with 5% recommended^[14].

Read the drawing for what it is

Those figures are TDOT's standard for its own projects and state right-of-way. They are useful reference points for a homeowner, but they are not a City of Clarksville or Montgomery County rule for a driveway on a local street.

Does the Driveway Itself Need a Building Permit?

This is where the published record gets thin. Clarksville's Building & Codes FAQ says a building permit is needed to construct, alter, repair, enlarge, move, renovate, demolish or permanently place any building or structure^[15]. It does not say in so many words whether that covers replacing a driveway on your own lot.

The model 2018 International Residential Code lists sidewalks and driveways among the work exempt from a building permit. That exemption does not authorize anything that breaks the code or a local ordinance, and access and right-of-way permits still apply^[16]. Cities and counties often amend that part of the code, and neither Clarksville's nor Montgomery County's amendments could be found online, so the safe course is to ask Building & Codes about your specific project rather than assume it is exempt.

Sinkholes, Runoff and a State Permit

A new driveway turns ground that used to soak up rain into a surface that sheds it, and on karst land that water has to go somewhere. Montgomery County's building department calls sinkholes a common feature of the county and the areas around it^[17].

• The buffer. County stormwater rules call for a 60-foot undisturbed buffer around sinkhole throats, cave entrances and Class V injection wells^[18].
• Every sinkhole is regulated. The county's Karst Feature Policy treats all sinkholes as storm water structures under its stormwater resolution^[19].
• More runoff means a state permit. Changing the area around a sinkhole in a way that sends more runoff into it requires a permit from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's Underground Injection Control section, and dumping dirt or building materials in or around a sinkhole is illegal^[20].

Before you draw the driveway

If there is a bowl-shaped low spot or a known sinkhole anywhere near the planned route, find out where the 60-foot ring falls and where the new runoff will drain before settling on a layout. The county's sheet says filled sinkholes can grow or re-form and recommends consulting an engineer or geotechnical professional before trying to fix one^[21].

Checklist Before the Old Driveway Comes Out

• Confirm who maintains the road in front of your lot: city, county or state.
• Ask that office what it requires for your address, and whether anything has changed since the rules quoted here were published.
• On a city lot, check frontage, corner distance and lot-line placement against the access ordinance, and get the neighbor's written approval early if the drive crosses a lot-line projection.
• On a county road, expect a site visit, a culvert decision, and a reinspection only after the driveway is finished.
• Walk the route for sinkholes and low spots, and plan where the new runoff goes.
• Ask Building & Codes whether the work on your own lot needs a building permit.
• If the pour could land in the cold months, read our freeze-thaw and winter concrete care guide before picking a date.